About this blog

My name is Bill Hirt and I'm a candidate to be a Representative from the 48th district in the Washington State legislature. My candidacy stems from concern the legislature is not properly overseeing the WSDOT and Sound Transit East Link light rail program. I believe East Link will be a disaster for the entire eastside. ST will spend 5-6 billion on a transportation project that will increase, not decrease cross-lake congestion, violates federal environmental laws, devastates a beautiful part of residential Bellevue, creates havoc in Bellevue's central business district, and does absolutely nothing to alleviate congestion on 1-90 and 405. The only winners with East Link are the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington and their labor unions.

This blog is an attempt to get more public awareness of these concerns. Many of the articles are from 3 years of failed efforts to persuade the Bellevue City Council, King County Council, east side legislators, media, and other organizations to stop this debacle. I have no illusions about being elected. My hope is voters from throughout the east side will read of my candidacy and visit this Web site. If they don't find them persuasive I know at least I tried.

Monday, May 1, 2017

Seattle Times Ignores ST “Prop 1 & Beyond” Light Rail Debacle.

The
Seattle Times frequent “Traffic Lab” articles dealing with the area’s congestion
typifies their approach to the problem. They fail to
recognize that, barring added lanes, the only way to reduce congestion on the
area’s roadways is to dramatically increase the 10% of commuters who currently
use public transit.

Doing
so requires providing commuters added access to transit near where they live to
transit capacity and routes to near where they want to go. The Times fails to acknowledge the vast
majority of the $54 billion Sound Transit will spend on their “Prop 1 and Beyond” light rail spine
will do neither.Their
complicity in first encouraging the initial enabling legislation and later
support for its expansion played a major roll in passing fatally flawed ST3
funding.

Providing
access to light rail spine requires locating stations within walking distance
of potential transit commuters or providing them with parking near where they
live with bus connections to stations.It’s unlikely sufficient numbers will live within
walking distance so added parking and connecting bus routes are needed.

However,
all of the current P&R lots with potential routes to light rail stations are
already “fully in use”.Thus
increasing commuter access to transit requires spending billions adding tens of
thousands of parking stalls over the next few years.Yet Sound Transit waits until 2024 to begin spending $698
million of the $54 billion ST3 funding adding a measly 8560 parking stalls over the next 15 years.Far too little too late!

Even more problematic
is Sound Transit’s light rail spine limited capacity.A 2004 PSRC report concluded
the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT) station lengths limited light rail
to 4-car trains and that safe operation required a minimum average of 4 minutes
between trains.They also
concluded each of the four 74-seat cars could accommodate an average of 148 riders.

Thus
total light rail capacity through the DSTT is limited to 8880 riders per hour
in each direction.The East
Link and Central Link south end extensions presumably share that capacity with
each having one 4-car train every 8 minutes and 4440 riders per hour in each
direction.Thus even with
the adding parking light rail will not have the capacity needed to attract the
thousands of commuters required to reduce congestion on either I-5 or I-90
corridors.

The
limited capacity along I-5 means riders attracted by the ST3 extensions will
likely restrict access for commuters using existing light rail stations,
especially during peak commute.ST3 approval, made possible by Seattle voters 70% support, will actually
reduce access to those currently using Central Link.

Meanwhile
all I-90 commuters will have reduced access to Seattle when Sound Transit closes
the bridge center roadway to begin constructing East Link. During construction, Sound Transit’s
failure to demonstrate outer roadway capacity will inevitably force commuters to
choose between high HOT fares on HOV lanes or gridlock on GP lanes.

When
East Link begins operation Sound Transit plans to force many if not all bus
riders to transfer to and from light rail trains at the South Bellevue and
Mercer Island light rail stations.The hassle of transferring to overcrowded trains in the morning and
return bus routes in the afternoon “may” dissuade many from using transit.Those choosing to drive rather than
ride will likely far exceed the 500 daily cross-lake-bus routes avoided with
the transfer; increasing not decreasing outer roadway congestion.

All
of this could have been avoided had the Seattle Times had exhibited a modicum
of competence in dealing with the issues involved.They could have alerted the public Sound Transit’s
Prop 1 light rail extensions violated the Revised Code of Washington by
neglecting to consider lower cost BRT options on both I-5 and I-90
corridors.

They
ignored the 2004 PSRC report limiting light rail capacity to a fraction of
what’s needed to reduce congestion.They promoted an ST3 that spends $54 billion and 25 years adding light
rail extensions yet waits until 2024 to begin spending a measly $698 billion on
parking; a fraction of what’s needed even for light rails limited
capacity.

Those
currently using Central Link will lose access. I-90 corridor commuters will endure ever increasing
congestion before facing a choice on I-90 Bridge between HOT fees on HOV lanes
or gridlock on GP lanes.

About Me

My last elective position was class president for 25 “class of ’57” seniors in Armstrong, Iowa. I received an MS in engineering at ISU, worked at Boeing for 36 years before retiring in 1998. My wife and I moved into our current home in Bellevue in 1967 where we raised two daughters. Three years of unsuccessful attempts to persuade BCC to block EL are available on “extended session” meeting minutes. Copies of many were sent to all the media outlets, legislators, and others to no avail. I’m hoping this Web site will convince east side residents to query their own legislators.